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Microstock Footage Forum => General - Stock Video => Topic started by: captain on September 28, 2015, 22:16

Title: which is best footage selling stock agency?
Post by: captain on September 28, 2015, 22:16
Hi all,

I just start to shoot the video for stock agency and no idea how to choose which stock agency to join. Which one is the best footage selling stock? Pond5,SS or Istockphoto? I heard the price in Istockphoto is quite low as 0.XX USD ,is it right?
Title: Re: which is best footage selling stock agency?
Post by: Mormegil on September 28, 2015, 23:08
Pond5 and Shutterstock work for me.  Apparently Videoblocks may be good too, but I just joined them and don't have anything approved yet, so I can't say from personal experience.
Title: Re: which is best footage selling stock agency?
Post by: captain on September 29, 2015, 00:00
Pond5 and Shutterstock work for me.  Apparently Videoblocks may be good too, but I just joined them and don't have anything approved yet, so I can't say from personal experience.

thank you,Mormegil !
 I also working for P5 and SS and wonder to explore a new agency.
Title: Re: which is best footage selling stock agency?
Post by: Belish on September 29, 2015, 02:27
Try Fotolia. I have some sales there and they pay me in Euros. Ft is my #3 after P5 and SS. I'm waiting for my first sale at VideoBlocks. It seems good there - mostly because of the 100% commission. Don't event register to RevoStock!
Title: Re: which is best footage selling stock agency?
Post by: videostocker on September 29, 2015, 04:40
Hi Captain,

I've been shooting footage for agencies this year and in my opinion the bests agencies in terms of sales, price and approval times are those, from best to worst:

Shutterstock (Great sales, harder rate of approval, approval time excellent)
Pond5 (Bad approval time, good sales, you can put your own price for each clip)
123RF (Low sales but well priced, easy tagging)
Fotolia (Low sales and low price, the faster approval time, some times while I'm tagging the are approving real time)
istockphoto (Poor sales, poor price, clip format very restrictive and different for other agencies so yo need to export only for this platform, approval time too long)

Depositphotos, ultimatstock, dissolve, Kozzi, Pixtastock : Here I have no sales so far so I'm also thinking to stop uploading.

Videoblocks: I've started to upload (up to 200 clips) but after 1 week still waiting for approval, they communicate well and told me that they are over saturated of reviews so will take longer than usual.

Now I have about 400 clips in total, some agencies have only 100 others near 400. Non of them exclusive.

Last thing: Nimia, this is a special platform but very interesting. I've made only 1 sale in 8 months (84$ of commission not too bad) but it's a great platform for footage backup and well priced. You can, upload and download the footage, and also select which footage goes to their store and which you want only to backup. Have a look it's interesting.

PD: I don't have any relation with any of those agencies.

This is my personal experience, hope it helps,

Kind regards
Title: Re: which is best footage selling stock agency?
Post by: Ronib on September 29, 2015, 13:36
I have uploaded almost to every stock agency and i agree with lostintv. Except about videoblocks i have few sales but few sales on videoblocks are better then many sales at ss. You get 42$ per clip so thats why I believe this agency will be number one in the industry in short time.
P.s dont even think putting videos at kozzi. You got 0.25$ per sale its ajoke and i removed all my files from them.



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Title: Re: which is best footage selling stock agency?
Post by: Sean Locke Photography on September 29, 2015, 13:42
I only have my videos at SS and Pond.  Nothing else has been presented as an acceptable option.
Title: Re: which is best footage selling stock agency?
Post by: cobalt on September 29, 2015, 13:49
pond5 and SS.

I have files on a few others, but they are hardly worth uploading too. I wish fotolia would sell more videos, I have nearly given up on them.
Title: Re: which is best footage selling stock agency?
Post by: KimsCreativeHub on September 29, 2015, 15:56
So far I'm uploading to SS, p5, and vidBlocks

Due to. Pricing n volume

I've dived back into animations 😊


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Title: Re: which is best footage selling stock agency?
Post by: KimsCreativeHub on September 29, 2015, 17:45
Did I do something wrong or does "processing" stage (before info edits can be done) at Pond5 take really long


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Title: Re: which is best footage selling stock agency?
Post by: fritz on September 29, 2015, 18:51
I have uploaded almost to every stock agency and i agree with lostintv. Except about videoblocks i have few sales but few sales on videoblocks are better then many sales at ss. You get 42$ per clip so thats why I believe this agency will be number one in the industry in short time.
P.s dont even think putting videos at kozzi. You got 0.25$ per sale its ajoke and i removed all my files from them.



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Yesterday sold two videos on SS(Clip Packs) and surprisingly got $40.20 for each clip. One was 4k and the other HD so $42 on video blocks in not much better than SS
Title: Re: which is best footage selling stock agency?
Post by: sharpshot on September 30, 2015, 04:34
Pond5 is the best for me.  SS are quite a way behind and the others I use only have the occasional sale.
Title: Re: which is best footage selling stock agency?
Post by: KnowYourOnions on September 30, 2015, 04:41
Hi all,

I just start to shoot the video for stock agency and no idea how to choose which stock agency to join. Which one is the best footage selling stock? Pond5,SS or Istockphoto? I heard the price in Istockphoto is quite low as 0.XX USD ,is it right?

Why not Videoblocks? You get 100%  8)
Title: Re: which is best footage selling stock agency?
Post by: fotoroad on September 30, 2015, 10:23
Pond5 is the best for me.  SS are quite a way behind and the others I use only have the occasional sale.

You are lucky, I have last sale with Pond5in May 2014 ;( before with less images and video  I sold more.
SS, Video Block and Dissolve  is much better for me.
Title: Re: which is best footage selling stock agency?
Post by: Rage on October 03, 2015, 23:27
Well I've just started out and the first sale has been a $5 Royalty on P5. Have been up on P5 SS and videoblocks. Fingers crossed
Title: Re: which is best footage selling stock agency?
Post by: Rose Tinted Glasses on October 04, 2015, 09:49
Well I've just started out and the first sale has been a $5 Royalty on P5. Have been up on P5 SS and videoblocks. Fingers crossed

shame on you for selling your work for such a degrading price.
Title: Re: which is best footage selling stock agency?
Post by: Rage on October 04, 2015, 10:18
Well I've just started out and the first sale has been a $5 Royalty on P5. Have been up on P5 SS and videoblocks. Fingers crossed

shame on you for selling your work for such a degrading price.
After reading all the posts i realized that the P5 recommended price is quite low.
Title: Re: which is best footage selling stock agency?
Post by: Mantis on October 04, 2015, 18:43
Well I've just started out and the first sale has been a $5 Royalty on P5. Have been up on P5 SS and videoblocks. Fingers crossed

shame on you for selling your work for such a degrading price.
After reading all the posts i realized that the P5 recommended price is quite low.

What size are you selling? P5 does not recommend $10 for a 1080p, it's like $42 or something.  Not sure what they recommend for smaller sizes though. I have started pumping up my prices to other agencies. 4K now at $199 and a tad higher than $42 for 1080 p, like $63 (which P5 auto prices based on my 4K set price).
Title: Re: which is best footage selling stock agency?
Post by: Rage on October 04, 2015, 21:52
This is HD 1080P timelapse . Just checked, so P5 recommended price is at 43 for HD. however if you put the option on let P5 decide my price them it starts at $10
Title: Re: which is best footage selling stock agency?
Post by: Mantis on October 05, 2015, 08:14
This is HD 1080P timelapse . Just checked, so P5 recommended price is at 43 for HD. however if you put the option on let P5 decide my price them it starts at $10


Ahhh that explains it.  Why on earth would they do that? I wonder if others really are relying on that function and that's why we see so many $10 HD clips.  If I were you I'd pump up to a higher range.  Why P5 does that is a mystery, perhaps they want a selection of cheap seat prices.  At least you caught it and can do something about it. I have never used that function, so it is nice to know how it works now.
Title: Re: which is best footage selling stock agency?
Post by: LesPalenik on October 08, 2015, 22:11
How about Vimeo? They state that as a contributor with Vimeo Pro ($199/year), one keeps 90% of the proceeds.
Title: Re: which is best footage selling stock agency?
Post by: Mantis on October 09, 2015, 08:12
How about Vimeo? They state that as a contributor with Vimeo Pro ($199/year), one keeps 90% of the proceeds.

I'd be very interested to hear anyone's experience regarding Vimeo.
Title: Re: which is best footage selling stock agency?
Post by: cobalt on October 09, 2015, 08:34
me too. 200 dollars is a serious investment. and do they allow refunds?
Title: Re: which is best footage selling stock agency?
Post by: KnowYourOnions on October 10, 2015, 04:12
This is HD 1080P timelapse . Just checked, so P5 recommended price is at 43 for HD. however if you put the option on let P5 decide my price them it starts at $10


Ahhh that explains it.  Why on earth would they do that? I wonder if others really are relying on that function and that's why we see so many $10 HD clips.  If I were you I'd pump up to a higher range.  Why P5 does that is a mystery, perhaps they want a selection of cheap seat prices.  At least you caught it and can do something about it. I have never used that function, so it is nice to know how it works now.

Yes, WHY on earth would they do that?  :o

And why would they broadcast an intimate performance with founding Beach Boys' member Al Jardin live from the Pond5 NYC office?  :-\
https://www.facebook.com/pond5/posts/10153680437604777 (https://www.facebook.com/pond5/posts/10153680437604777)

And why would they keep promoting free videos? >:(
https://www.facebook.com/pond5/posts/10153682251279777 (https://www.facebook.com/pond5/posts/10153682251279777)

Is any of this helping sales?
Title: Re: which is best footage selling stock agency?
Post by: PeterChigmaroff on October 10, 2015, 10:53
How about Vimeo? They state that as a contributor with Vimeo Pro ($199/year), one keeps 90% of the proceeds.
$200 a year, if they could sell like SS or p5 is very little. It would be taken care of in even the slowest month. But can they sell like P5 or SS? My guess is it's not for clip content.
Title: Re: which is best footage selling stock agency?
Post by: gcrook on October 10, 2015, 11:47
As far as i know vimeo doesnt sell clips.It sells films,documentaries etc,meaning complete works.It offers subscriptions,rentals and purchases,similar to  a netfilx model,but not stock video unless i've missed some announcement.
Which is impropable because the usual internetic "suspects" would be jumping up and down with joy by now.
Title: Re: which is best footage selling stock agency?
Post by: Mantis on October 10, 2015, 17:14
How about Vimeo? They state that as a contributor with Vimeo Pro ($199/year), one keeps 90% of the proceeds.
$200 a year, if they could sell like SS or p5 is very little. It would be taken care of in even the slowest month. But can they sell like P5 or SS? My guess is it's not for clip content.

Correct. I was doing some Google surfing today on that and it is mostly short films, creative pieces etc, not really stock per se.

Here's a 30 second clip, but not the kind of stuff I upload. I typed in "garage" as my keyword.

https://vimeo.com/129432088

Here's one you can purchase for $3.99 https://vimeo.com/ondemand/worldtheta

Agree that Vimeo probably isn't good for stock.
Title: Re: which is best footage selling stock agency?
Post by: ccbcc on October 11, 2015, 09:29
For me sales at SS are getting better every month. I don't know what's going on with P5, they used to be on par with SS, but SS now sells about 3 times more (in $$) on average.
Title: Re: which is best footage selling stock agency?
Post by: Mantis on October 11, 2015, 10:10
For me sales at SS are getting better every month. I don't know what's going on with P5, they used to be on par with SS, but SS now sells about 3 times more (in $$) on average.

I agree about P5. I was getting 5-7 video sales a month and I am lucky if I get two. However, the one thing I did do of late is increase my prices on my new uploads to industry level ($79 HD and $199 4K) and that's about when my sales started to slide. Probably coincidence as I just sold a hd clip for $90. One thing is certain, my frequency of sales has dropped there.
Title: Re: which is best footage selling stock agency?
Post by: KB on October 11, 2015, 13:53
Same here. I can guess only that SS is taking a larger and larger piece of the pie. That's not good for anyone (well, other than SS).
Title: which is best footage selling stock agency?
Post by: KimsCreativeHub on October 11, 2015, 14:44
I wonder if it's because a 199 is next to a 10 on P5?  I've started animation and I want all my stuff industry standard, here's hoping it works 😊


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Title: Re: which is best footage selling stock agency?
Post by: lucagavagna on October 11, 2015, 17:18
SS is also best seller for me. I'm not sure it is a question of prices, I think the main reason is the user experience of the site. When I'm looking for some clips to buy, I found much easier to find solutions in SS and in IS. Then I can decide to go and look for the same clips in P5, if I really want to buy from that site. When my research start from P5 I see a less curated result and a less clean presentation. So sometimes it can be easier to buy everything directly from SS. This is my buyer point of view, as a contributor I respect very much the 50% rule of P5 but I get more money from SS
Title: Re: which is best footage selling stock agency?
Post by: videostocker on October 11, 2015, 17:35
Until august I was selling in P5 about 2 or 3 clips a month. No sales in september. But in August I started to sell those 2 or 3 in SS. I look also the view stats at P5 and I had almost no new views or clip on bins. For test purposes i changed the price of some clips to just 10 dollars and still no sales and no new views at those clips. On january 2016 i will start to upload only in one or two marketplaces where prices are good for me and there are some sales.
Title: Re: which is best footage selling stock agency?
Post by: KimsCreativeHub on October 11, 2015, 17:40
Very interesting 1. The buyers point of view of the sites as well as the P5 experience.


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Title: Re: which is best footage selling stock agency?
Post by: alijaber on October 12, 2015, 02:13
P5 is still no 1 for me, I have some unique HD shots with good Pricing (200-500$) that sells good, SS will never beat that for me
Title: Re: which is best footage selling stock agency?
Post by: weathernewsonline on October 12, 2015, 08:25
Pond5 is #1 by far for me but Videoblocks is catching up.  I have decided to pick three main sites for selling my unique content and that gives buyers some choice when it comes to price but also gives me some security as things change from time to time, Pond5 and Videoblocks are red hot right now and SS is dead but a month from now that can change.   Working 24/7 on getting all of my content up on the three sites, pond5 has the biggest lot of it now.

http://www.weathernewsonline.com/ (http://www.weathernewsonline.com/)
Title: Re: which is best footage selling stock agency?
Post by: duben on October 13, 2015, 03:47
It really depends what are you selling, if illustration, photos or video. For statistics I am using my spreadsheet, it's free for download http://microstocktools.com/excel-statistics-microstock/, (http://microstocktools.com/excel-statistics-microstock/,) feel free to use it if you like it. Based on this, in this year

Shutterstock: 45,39 % of income
iStock: 16,73 %
Fotolia: 15,44 %
Rest of microstocks I am using is between 3-5,6 %
Title: Re: which is best footage selling stock agency?
Post by: ammit on October 22, 2015, 02:49
funny how you serious producers with spreadsheet calculators an percentage bla bla are still considering shutterstock a good agency for video. They may sale a large volume but the profit/downloads is on the low end. P5 and Videoblocks are in my top.
Title: Re: which is best footage selling stock agency?
Post by: KnowYourOnions on October 22, 2015, 03:25
funny how you serious producers with spreadsheet calculators an percentage bla bla are still considering shutterstock a good agency for video. They may sale a large volume but the profit/downloads is on the low end. P5 and Videoblocks are in my top.

And let's not forget the fact that Videoblocks launched its marketplace in spring of 2015. So their success is massive!
Title: Re: which is best footage selling stock agency?
Post by: ammit on October 23, 2015, 04:04
funny how you serious producers with spreadsheet calculators an percentage bla bla are still considering shutterstock a good agency for video. They may sale a large volume but the profit/downloads is on the low end. P5 and Videoblocks are in my top.

And let's not forget the fact that Videoblocks launched its marketplace in spring of 2015. So their success is massive!

Indeed, still there is a big "IF" in the middle. Videoblocks has two faces. on one hand the royalties are good but with them publishing free footages means that one specific subject will never produce money for us.